It's been almost five months since my last report. It's been an extremely busy year and I just kept falling further and further behind. I'll do my best to give a brief synopsis of each month leading up to today.

March – Winds were uncharacteristically low and the catching was above average especially for big trout. Drifting and wading were both productive over scattered shell and soft bottom near drop-offs. Our best baits were MirrOlure’s MirrOdine XL’s, Corky Fat Boys, Tidal Surge’s Maniac Mullets and Salt Water Assassins on light-weight jig heads. We had quite a few days with 20 – 40 trout and a few with 10 or 15, but the size was impressive with many topping 6 and 7 pounds.

April – This month can be pretty tough around here. This year April was REALLY tough. Not only was our winter-to-spring transition in full effect, but the wind was brutal. I had 25 trips on the books and only managed to run 11 of them. The silver lining was that we caught some chunky trout up to 8 ½ pounds. Redfish saved us on a few days as well. We spent most of our time near shorelines with marsh drains and scattered shell bottom. MirrOdines, Corkys, topwaters and Assassins all caught fish.

May – Wind, wind and more wind! We were only able to fish 17 days, but the days we made it out were very good with limits and near limits of nice trout most days. We released quite a few trout in the 5 to 7 pound range. Slicks began showing over shell more frequently and the pattern was becoming much more consistent. Soft plastics and topwaters were our main baits. The one thing we did notice was the lack of birds working. Normally gulls are working over brown shrimp during this month, but there were very few. We chalked it up to an extended winter resulting in a delayed migration.

June – Early June was good for the most part with 15 to 20 fish per trip and the occasional limit. A few more groups of birds started working as the brown shrimp finally showed up about a month later than normal. Winds were not bad until around the middle of the month then that nasty southwest wind reared its ugly head. Working slicks over deeper shell was still our strategy, but it was difficult to get out in the middle on most days. We were able to fish through most of the wind scraping up 10 or 15 trout and a few reds per day. It was still worth the effort just not what we’re used to by June standards. We gutted out the remainder of the month wondering if it was ever going to be calm again.

July – The first couple of days of July gave us more southwest wind until one day, on July 3rd, it got calm. It was a dream come true! Catching has improved dramatically as a result and we’re all smiling. The size of the trout overall is still impressive with many in the 4 to 6 pound range. We’re catching tons of little bitty trout (9 – 14 inches) as well in some areas which is good to see. We are also getting some badly needed rain on a fairly regular basis which is a good thing. The current pattern is working slicks and bait concentrations (mainly shad) over shell and deep mud in 5 to 10 feet of water. Trout and redfishing is the best it’s been in months. It’s not as good as it was at this time last year, but it’s not bad. Topwaters and soft plastics along with a few 52 Series MirrOlures are getting the job done.